The silence that filled the room was suffocating, but I barely noticed it. All I could see was Nicole, standing there, her voice quivering as she announced her pregnancy. I'd always dreamed of having children one day, of building a family together.
Yet, hearing this now, my mind spun in a hundred different directions, each one darker than the last.
I tried to read her face, to understand if any of this was true. I wanted so badly to believe her, but how could I? The evidence, the betrayal, the lies, it all weighed heavily on me, too much to just ignore.
My gaze hardened, but deep inside, I felt a crack. For just a moment, a part of me wanted to trust her again. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she wasn't lying, and I was about to throw away the woman I loved and our unborn child.
But before I could even consider it, my mother's voice cut through my thoughts. "You can't be falling for this, Taylor! After everything she's done, you actually believe her? She's lying! Can't you see she'll say anything to keep you from leaving her?"
I clenched my fists, torn between anger and confusion. Nicole's face crumpled, and her voice shook as she pleaded, "I'm not lying! I told Sarah. She knows!"
Sarah, who stood off to the side, looked at Nicole coldly. "Stop trying to drag me into your web of lies, Nicole. You didn't say anything to me about a pregnancy."
I felt a surge of fury and then, emptiness. My own best friend was confirming what I'd feared all along: Nicole was a liar.
Her betrayal was as vivid as the look of hurt on her face. I turned away, unwilling to let her see the devastation she'd caused.
"Get out of my house," I ordered, my voice low and cold. She flinched, as if I'd slapped her, and that tiny, guilty part of me stirred, but I silenced it.
She stepped closer, her eyes wet with desperation. "Taylor, please, I just told you I'm pregnant. Are you really throwing me out?"
Her words were like poison, twisting the knife deeper. I laughed bitterly, hollowly. "I'm done with your lies, Nicole. I want you out of my life. I don't just hate you—I despise you."
As the words left my mouth, I felt the finality of them settle over me. A part of me felt shattered, but I couldn't let myself feel that way. She'd betrayed me. She deserved every bit of anger I had left.
"Fine," she whispered, wiping her eyes and standing straighter, as if summoning every bit of strength she had left. "Give me the papers. I'll sign them."
She didn't wait for me to respond. Instead, she walked over to the table, signed the divorce papers without a second glance, and handed them back to me. I stared down at her signature, barely able to believe what had just happened. It felt like a lifetime between us had been erased in a single, hasty scribble.
"Here," she said, her voice hollow. "You got what you wanted."
I took the papers from her, trying to maintain my composure. "Let me know where to send your things."
I turned my back on her, forcing myself to walk away, to put distance between us as quickly as possible. She was out of my life now, and I couldn't look back.
Upstairs, I locked myself in my room, leaning against the door and closing my eyes. My whole life felt like it had been uprooted, twisted, and I didn't even recognize myself anymore. I should have felt relieved, free of the woman who'd betrayed me but all I felt was emptiness.
My mother's footsteps sounded in the hall as she came to check on me. She knocked, her voice soft but reassuring. "You did the right thing, Taylor. She's out of your life now, and you don't have to let her manipulate you anymore."
I tried to nod, to let her words comfort me, but deep inside, I felt like I was missing something. What if, against all logic, Nicole was telling the truth?
I paced the room, trying to shove the doubt aside. She was a liar. She was only telling me what I wanted to hear. But why, then, did that nagging sense of uncertainty refuse to let go?
I remembered the look on her face when she said she was pregnant, the desperation in her eyes, the way her voice had trembled. She'd seemed so sincere, so genuinely afraid.
I wanted to trust her, even though I knew better. But what if, somehow, my mother was wrong?
I slumped onto my bed, burying my head in my hands. My heart wanted to believe Nicole, but my mind screamed that she'd betrayed me.
Every shred of evidence said she was guilty; my own mother, my family, and Sarah all stood against her.
The knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts. It was my mother again. "Taylor, darling, come downstairs. I don't think you should be alone right now."
I nodded and rose, forcing myself to push the thoughts aside as I followed her down the stairs. Everyone else had left the room, and we walked in silence to the empty living room.
"I know this has been hard on you," she said, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. "But you'll move on. Soon, you'll see that she was never right for you."
I tried to listen, tried to accept her reassurance. But when I turned to look at her, there was something in her eyes I hadn't noticed before; a hint of triumph, of satisfaction.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Without another word, I turned and walked toward the window, watching the rain start to fall outside. It wasn't supposed to feel like this.
Losing Nicole was supposed to make me feel relieved, but instead, it felt like I'd just ripped out a piece of myself.
And just as I was beginning to drown in the flood of confusion, I saw it: Nicole, stumbling down the street, clutching her s
tomach, her face twisted in pain.